Episode tag to 3.4 "The New Mafia," set at the very end of the episode, in which Jack realizes there is, in fact, something he wants to talk about.

~0~

Jack was finishing up his evening run, having put all his frustrations of the week into it, when he arrived back at the fountain esplanade in front of his apartment only to be faced with one of those frustrations—a brilliant blonde frustration that he could never truly be sorry to see.

"Hey," Sue said, both looking and sounding unsure whether he would be happy to see her there. As if he'd ever not been happy to see her since the day they met.

So he smiled at her. "What's up?" he asked, signing it at the same time.

She glanced down at her hearing dog at her side and said, "We were just in the neighborhood." Jack nodded, knowing full well that wasn't true and unsure what else he should say, but Sue continued first. "Jack—you were right about Tony. I was wrong, and I'm sorry I sided with him instead of you." She hesitated a moment, then said, "So, do we need to talk about it anymore, or is that enough?"

Jack couldn't help but laugh a little at her eagerness to be done with her apology. She was one of the most honest and caring people he'd ever known, and seeing this side of her—this proud woman who'd been humbled by realizing she was wrong, two things he'd so rarely ever seen her be—just endeared her that much more to him.

"It's enough for me," he said. "Unless there's something you want to talk about."

"No, not really," she said. "Unless there's something you want to talk about."

"No."

"Okay."

They stood there a moment, then he said, "You hungry?"

She smiled. "I'm starved. Pizza?"

"Perfect." Looking down to Levi, he added, "How'd she know I wanted pizza?"

Levi, always happy to be included in conversations, barked in response.

"What'd he say?" Jack asked Sue. She signed something that he didn't quite recognize. "What's that?"

"He said I'm back," she responded.

Jack pointed teasingly at her, but those words had caused him to feel like a great weight had lifted from his chest, more than even seeing her tell Tony off or hearing her apologize just a minute ago had done. He'd needed her back.

He put his arm around her and started walking toward the nearest pizza place, then looked down at his sweaty jogging clothes. "Oh, uh . . . maybe we should order in," he said.

She smiled. "Why don't I go grab the pizza and you go grab a shower, and I'll meet you at your apartment?"

"Even more perfect."

~0~

It was about 40 minutes later that they were seated at his table, pizza slices on plates in front of them, preparing to dig in. They were able to eat comfortably, back to their old banter and teasing, bouncing with ease between philosophical concepts to sports, current events to their respective family updates.

When they were done, Sue was about to help clean up when Jack said, "Eh, leave that, I'll get it in a bit. Actually, could we go sit in the living room for a little while? There is one other thing I wanted to talk to you about and I'd rather we be comfortable for it."

"Uh oh," she said, following him into the other room. "This doesn't sound good. I thought you said we were good earlier."

"Oh, we are," he assured her, settling onto one end of the couch while she took the other, with plenty of space to face each other. "Actually, um . . . I have a confession to make. I wanted to apologize because . . . well, I may have been right about Tony, but it wasn't always for the right reasons. You're so perceptive about people and, um, especially about me—picking up on my moods and all, I mean—that I'm afraid your defensiveness of him and willingness to give him the benefit of the doubt might have been partly my fault. You were right to defend him when I was assuming the worst for the wrong reasons, and just because it happened that the worst turned out to be true anyway doesn't mean that I was somehow more in the right for how I'd previously behaved. Does that make sense?"

She nodded slowly. "Sure, I think so. Um . . . but what wrong reasons?"

He shrugged. "I'm . . . not sure it really matters."

She twisted her lips, considering for a moment, then said, "Do you not think it matters . . . or do you just not want to tell me?"

He gave a small laugh. "See? Always able to read me so well." He let out a sigh and then said, "I guess . . . I didn't really like seeing him hitting on you."

Sue blushed a little and said, "I would hardly say he was hitting on me."

"He was definitely hitting on you."

"Flirting a little, maybe."

"A lot."

She shrugged. "Maybe. He was a poor substitution anyway."

He raised his eyebrows. "For what?"

She shrugged again, this time looking a little less certain about what she wanted to say. "Um . . . I don't . . . I just meant he wasn't really what I was looking for in a guy. I mean . . . it's flattering, having someone pay attention to you like that, it's easy to get caught up in it. It's just . . . I mean, you can't build a life on that. Nobody stays like that all the time."

"Not everything is an unbelievable night?" Jack asked, and though he didn't mean to, some irritation managed to slip into the question.

"Jack—you . . . what do you think that meant?"

He shrugged. "In my experience, guys like that tend to mean one end or the other of a single concept when they call something or someone unbelievable. It either means they got what they wanted, or they're trying to flatter until they get what they want."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you . . . Jack, how little do you know me? Do you really think I would just—?"

"No, no," he quickly assured her. "In his case I assumed it was him trying to butter you up to try to get . . . what he wanted. I just . . . I still hated seeing him treating you like that. Flirting with you when it was so obvious he had only one thing on his mind."

"There are worse things," she muttered.

He furrowed his brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She shook her head. "Nothing, never mind."

"No, you meant something, and I feel like it had to do with me, so—"

"It's nothing, Jack," she said, seeming embarrassed to have been caught out like that. At his disbelieving expression, she sighed and said, "What's worse, a guy who flirts constantly, or a guy who seems interested in a woman and gets jealous when another guy flirts with her but never does anything about it?"

He stared for a moment. "I . . . I don't know, honestly. I just know . . . when I think of you with him . . . ."

"I wasn't with him, Jack! I mean, he kissed me a couple times, but—"

"I do not need details," Jack interrupted.

"Well, too bad. You insisted I explain what I meant, you're going to get the whole explanation! Yeah, he kissed me! But you know something Jack? In my whole life, I've only ever had one kiss that was so incredible I will remember it if everything else is wiped from my memory! I've only had one kiss that wasn't just a physical feeling but a real connection! I've only had one kiss that I have thought of every single day since, and I promise you, it's not a manipulative kiss in a car from a married liar who didn't even give me a choice! It was certainly not a kiss in an alley after finding out the mafia were working with Hamas, as though that was something to celebrate! It was a kiss standing in a law office, knowing that we were undercover and literally setting ourselves up to be caught, and still not being able to help reacting to each other.

"You want to know why he was a poor substitute? Because a dark, handsome guy in a leather jacket who hits on me constantly is nothing compared to a dark, handsome guy in a leather jacket, or a suit jacket, or a t-shirt and jogging shorts, who cares about me so deeply it sometimes takes my breath away, even if he only flirts with me a little but doesn't actually make any move toward a relationship!"

Jack was staring at her, processing all of this, willing it to be real life and not a dream. "You want a move?" he asked softly.

"I . . . I want to know I'm wanted," she admitted. "I want to know I'm worth more than just . . . ."

"Just?" He scooted closer to her, sliding his hand along the side of her face. "Just what, Sue? Just incredible? Just the most amazing, gorgeous, caring, brilliant woman I've ever met? How much more could you possibly be worth than everything?" He searched her eyes, rubbing his thumb lightly along her cheek as he spoke. "Sue, I . . . all I want is you."

"Then why don't you do something about it?" she asked, and it was not a flirty or a leading question. It was genuine, sincere.

"Because . . . I don't deserve you, Sue."

"You? Jack, I've only had a few boyfriends in my entire life who were genuine, not asking me out on a dare or out of pity. None of them were half as incredible as you."

He let out a small laugh. "What a pair we are, huh?"

"You know what?"

"What?"

"I'm done waiting." Before he had time for panic about what that meant to fully set in, she reached up and cupped her hand behind his head, pulling him toward her as she moved forward and met his lips with hers.

It wasn't long before what started as a fairly chaste kiss turned far more passionate. When they finally broke for air some time later, she said softly, "Yeah. That's the kiss I remember."